The 2019–20 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th season of the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

, the national championship for men's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

teams in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 July 2019. It was temporarily postponed from 12 March to 5 June 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The league was contested by ten teams.

Teams

On 23 April 2019, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2019–20 season was complete. For the 2019–20 Prva HNL, only nine clubs were issued a top level license:

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

, Gorica,

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Fi ...

, Istra 1961,

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica. They play in ...

and

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

. All of these clubs except Varaždin, who were newly promoted to the Prva HNL as champions of the 2018–19 Croatian Second Football League, were also issued a license for participating in

UEFA competitions UEFA competitions (), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur association football and futsal. Th ...

. In the second stage of licensing, clubs that were not licensed in the first stage could appeal on the decision.

Stadia and locations

* ¹ Lokomotiva hosted their home matches at

Stadion Kranjčevićeva Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj ulici (''Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević, Kranjčević Street Stadium''), also known as Stadion Concordije between 1921 and 1945, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Trešnjevka neighbourhood, in the Croatian capital ...

. The stadium was originally the home ground of third-level side

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Each team played home-and-away against every other team in the league twice, for a total of 36 matches each played.

Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, Istra 1961 contested a two-legged relegation play-off tie against Orijent 1919, the third-placed team of the

2019–20 Croatian Second Football League The 2019–20 Croatian Second Football League (also known as Druga HNL and 2. HNL) was the 29th season of the Croatian Second Football League, the second-level football competition for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establi ...

, since runners-up Croatia Zmijavci failed to apply for a top level license.

First leg

Second leg

''Istra 1961 won 3–1 on aggregate.''

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Awards

Annual awards

References

External links

Official website

Prva HNL
at UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Croatian First Football League, 2019-20 2019-20 1 2019–20 in European association football leagues Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic